ford produces nice cars, but the service is so lousy.

not to splash cold water on current owners of fiesta or any other ford owners atm, but i've had one too many bad experiences with my focus.

they claim to give you 100k km warranty, but some parts are limited to 30k. That's fine, but firstly they don't tell you upfront which parts (it's not in the warranty book or the contract). Secondly, they won't tell you after you have bought your car and require service. They just bill you and say 'all parts warranty are on a case-to-case basis'. They don't provide you with a list of parts covered, and refuse when you request from them, though it is clearly your consumer right to receive it! Talk about unscrupulous way of doing business! Contrast that to another conti car, VW, a full list of covered parts on their website, upfront before you buy... ethics difference is like heaven and earth.

Not only that, auto-connexion over-charge you on parts. You get parts outside of auto-connexion for 30% the price - not 30% off, it's one-third the price!! As an example of how expensive parts may be, a ford focus bearing costs 1200 bucks. That's more than what you will spend on a beemer or a merc!

I got to know a lot of the mechanics and non-management staff at the PJ service centre, and all (yes, all) of them would say the same thing: "nasi lemak" mentality looking to reap short term profits, sacrificing reputation. The nasi lemak mentality have no regard to consumer rights or doing the right thing.

Why you may ask, why they do this at risk of long term reputation. THe answer is the idiocy of nasi lemak management at Sime Darby. WHen they negotiated the deal to take over the Ford Malaysia business with Ford global, they forgot to use spare parts as a leverage negotiation point - resulting in ad-hoc contracts at exorbitant prices from Ford Global. IDIOTS!

TLDR version: Ford = Great cars. Ford Malaysia service = vomit blood and bleeding money.

I'm sorry fiesta owners, not to hijack this, but I thought that potential buyers should think very very very carefully before taking this step. My focus was a huge mistake, I hope you don't repeat mine.

Thanks.

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Added on February 27, 2011, 3:59 pmjust wanted to add a little more. it's oft said that all car services are terrible. auto connexion isn't just slow, and non-responsive, but they deny you of what is rightfully yours - parts. the whole point of getting a new car is to benefit from the warranty, worry free about the parts. have you ever been denied of - not just the parts - the warrantable parts list?! it's a whole different level of sh!ttyness. I've owned protons and peroduas which were less troublesome.

This post has been edited by pwncake: Feb 27 2011, 03:59 PM

Sorry for the late reply.

I have had my bearing, aircond, belt rear suspension (can't remember which part), drive shaft and fuel pump issues.

Total damage so far (although still with warranty): RM3000++.

This is the thing about auto-connexion: the mechanics are very good. They are helpful and often knowledgeable. In fact if you know some well enough, they will tell you don't bother claiming warranty because they will charge you anyways and point you to third-party providers. The issue is the management itself. They are totally non-transparent and very obvious they are trying to rip you off. In fact, there is an unspoken rule (in both PJ and Penang SC) that mechanics cannot advise you on what parts are broken or what is to be replaced - the management and only the management may speak directly to you and advise you what to do.

Pause for a moment, and think: why can't the obviously knowledgeable, qualified people advise you on YOUR car? Why when I want to know EXACTLY what is wrong with my car, I have to pull the mechanic one side and speak to them in a hush-hush tone? Something is clearly wrong with the way they do business, if they restrict the line of communication to one person.

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Added on March 5, 2011, 5:46 pmSame problem. Good and honest mechanics. Infact one of them told me don't bother living with one for too long, SDAC will kill you with the maintenance.

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Added on March 5, 2011, 5:54 pmI saw that before I went to the workshop for my major maintenance. It's totally useless. The issue is: what parts are covered, and what parts are not?

For example, when my drive shaft broke down this is what they said (absolute shocker):

SDAC: Sir, you have an issue with drive shaft/

Me: Oh? What happened?

SDAC: One of the protective gaskets broke, and will have to be replaced.

Me: Oh alright then. How long will it take? (i assumed at this point it was covered by the warranty).

SDAC: Very quick. Only 1 day. Leave your car here and you can get it back by tomorrow.

Me: Oh... okay la, no choice...

SDAC: Okay Sir. It will cost 750 for the repair

Me: Warranty? Service only so expensive ah?

SDAC: Sorry Sir. The part replaced is not covered under the warranty.

Me: Whatt??? It's the drive shaft! Where is your list of warrantable items?

SDAC: Uh, we don't have the list here. It's with our upper management. But we called just now, and they said the part broken down is not covered. Not ALL the drive shaft parts are covered. It's case by case basis...

Me: So... you are meaning to tell me, you cover the drive shaft, but not all parts of the drive shaft. So which parts of the drive shaft are covered and which parts are not?

SDAC: Umm.. sorry sir, we can't tell you that. We also don't have the list, the upper management will decide on a case by case basis...

Me: ....


Just talking about this makes me throw up a bit in my mouth. Now put yourself in my position and think how much misrepresentation there is based on the link you just showed me.

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Added on March 5, 2011, 6:00 pmAgain, to emphasise: if you can deal with these guys (nothing short of having a lawyer on standby to deal with them), by all means get a Ford - wonderful wonderful cars. Brilliant to drive.

But ownership of a car is more than the car, it's also the after service. SDAC is simply not the place to go. Parts deprivation worse than long hours of waiting - it hurts your wallet and your heart. If you can fork out a little more, please go VW Polo. Have a friend who owned it for a while and had some parts replaced - zero fuss. Car in, car out. Any issues, point straight to the extensive list of covered parts in their website.

This post has been edited by pwncake: Mar 5 2011, 06:00 PM